Bernie Sanders's real media problem

[mcar]

Bernie Sanders’s real media problem
By Paul Waldman
Opinion writer

...I’ve been closely observing media coverage of politics for a couple of decades, first as an academic and now as an opinion writer, and one of the things I concluded long ago is that while biases in news coverage abound, ideological bias is usually the least important. Non-ideological biases in favor of conflict between candidates, in favor of the new over the old, in favor of events over broader conditions and in favor of information that can be obtained quickly under intense deadline pressure all play a far more important role in shaping coverage than whether reporters’ personal preferences on abortion or tax policy are finding their way into stories.

But that is the charge Sanders is making: that because journalists have an issue with his anti-corporate message, they’re choosing to undercut his campaign. His aides even alleged that they are deciding how much coverage to give primary polls based on how Sanders does in each one. “The better the number is in the poll, the less coverage he's received, and the worse he does, the more it receives,” said one.
...
So let me offer an explanation of what Sanders’s real media problem is: Right now Sanders 2020 is suffering from the comparison with Sanders 2016, when his candidacy was a captivating new phenomenon that turned what could have been a dull coronation for Hillary Clinton into a real contest. That made him compelling to reporters — again, always drawn to what’s new and what creates conflict — who wrote story after story about this fascinating campaign, particularly the unlikely fact that a rumpled 74-year-old had become the hero of college students everywhere. They covered his policy proposals, but they also covered all the attendant human-interest sidelights such as people getting Bernie tattoos....

It’s not as though Sanders is being ignored. I did a search on The Post’s website and found 28 articles and videos mentioning him that appeared just this Monday and Tuesday. FiveThirtyEight monitors the volume of cable news coverage of the candidates, and what you see is that coverage pretty well tracks poll standing: Joe Biden gets the most, followed by Sanders, Warren and Kamala D. Harris clustered together. You might be able to make a case for why that’s wrong, but you can’t say it’s particularly unfair to Sanders.
...

That’s why I suspect that these complaints are really about “working the refs,” a long-standing strategy pioneered by conservatives: Complain that you’re the victim of media bias, and reporters will respond by bending over backward to show they’re being fair to you, leading to more favorable coverage, at least for a while. Sanders might also be looking to energize his supporters, who see him as a rebel fighting an establishment that is terrified of him and will do anything to stop him. Four years ago it was the Democratic National Committee. Today it’s the media. Either way, it helps tell a story that gives Sanders’s candidacy a heroic character.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/14/bernie-sanderss-real-media-problem/?noredirect=on

[TwilightZone]

1. "Sanders 2020 is suffering from the comparison with Sanders 2016"

That, in a nutshell, is the issue. He's no longer the new kid on the block and this time there's much more competition.

[mcar]

7. Yep

[Cha]

14. And, not

handling it.

[Me.]

2. "a long-standing strategy pioneered by conservatives"

hmmmm

[betsuni]

18. +1

[Vegas Roller]

3. Whiny babies are gonna whine nt

[NYMinute]

4. BS should just accept that his message is neither novel

nor imaginative. He should drop out instead of appearing pathetic by attacking the media.

[Cha]

29. We know that won't

happen.

[betsuni]

30. It's embarrassing when he claims that universal health care, a higher minimum wage,

affordable education, environmentalism, making the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share in taxes, etc., were radical ideas until he introduced them. Never seen anyone correct him about this in interviews.

Come on, even Republicans know these are regular Democratic policies. We just had eight years of panic about "Obamacare" as government controlled health care, Obama the socialist redistributing the wealth, Obama raising taxes to pay for free stuff for poors (Obamaphones), Obama coming for your guns, Obama making you use more efficient light bulbs, the dire warnings that in cities like Seattle that raised the minimum wage to $15 all the small businesses would go bankrupt.

It's bizarre that Sanders thinks his message is new and unique.

[thesquanderer]

5. re: "reporters...always drawn to what's new" also explains less enthusiasm about Biden.

If reporters are not as excited about a second Sanders campaign, they may be similarly not so excited about a third Biden campaign, and the only other candidate who has similarly near universal name recognition. We know these guys. Been there, done that. Let's look for someone new and interesting to pay more attention to.

And as a counterpoint, some of that actually arguably results in a good public service. Most voters don't need to learn a whole bunch more about Biden and Sanders. They know them, and know what they think about them. But there's a lot of benefit to be had out there for people to learn more about the candidates they don't already know so much about.

So most candidates have the potential for decent coverage if they do anything interesting, whereas Biden and Sanders are most newsworthy when they screw up.

[mcar]

8. Some of it is the shiny new thing

that reporters want. Given all the candidates, it's hard for some to gain media attention. Sanders and Biden do seem to get a lot, though.

[katmondoo]

6. I keep asking what has he done in 30 years??????

[comradebillyboy]

9. Very little.

[Gothmog]

10. This is a great article

Link to tweet

[mcar]

11. I thought so too

[GulfCoast66]

12. Don't disagree but I think the writer missed his largest problem;

Democrats remember his behavior after the voting was done and before the convention followed up by the horrible behavior of he and his delegates at the convention. Anyone remember John Lewis?

I think that hurts him more than anyone expected and more than we realize even now. For many democrats booing John Lewis is irredeemable.

[mcar]

13. Booing John Lewis was irredeemable

[Gothmog]

31. Agreed

[Cha]

15. Yeah, funny how they don't mention

the obvious, burned into people's psyche.

Karma

[TreasonousBastard]

16. Excellent article, and boils down to Bernie's real problem...

is Bernie. All these years in the corridors of power and he has not grown a bit.

Warmed over '60s slogans and 30 years on the hill with 2 renamed post offices to his credit. Now his 2020 campaign is warmed over 2016.

Warren got more done on legislation before she was elected than Bernie has in 30 years. I still think she's better in the Senate than the White House, but if she gets in the WH-- watch out!

[Gothmog]

17. Analysis: Bernie Sanders's bogus media beef

Link to tweet

“For example, I’ve been in politics for a few years,” he said. “You know what? Not one reporter has ever asked me: ‘Bernie, what are you going to do about the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality?’ Are you going to ask me that? Is that part of what the media talks about?”...

There are a few problems with this claim. The first is that it’s patently untrue.

Within about 20 minutes of searching on Lexis Nexis, I was able to find at least four documented examples of Sanders being asked what he would do about income inequality:

CBS’s John Dickerson on to July 12, 2015: “A lot of the issues you have mentioned both on wages and income inequality are going to be the topic of a speech by Hillary Clinton … on Monday. How do you distinguish yourself from her for Democratic voters out there?”

CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Oct. 14, 2015: “Senator Sanders, let’s talk about income inequality. Wages and incomes are flat. You’ve argued that the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any time since the 1920s. We’ve had a Democratic president for seven years. What are you going to be able to do that President Obama didn’t?”

MSNBC’s Al Sharpton on March 15, 2016: “What do you say to black and Latino voters who you need to support you in November if you`re the nominee … What do you say will be their particular way of dealing with racial inequality in the fight about income inequality?”

And CNN’s Wolf Blitzer did a lengthy interview with Sanders on May 19, 2015, the first one-third of which was devoted to his views on income inequality:

Link to tweet

[betsuni]

19. He also claimed that people laughed when he said climate change was the biggest security threat

to the country during a debate. Not true.

[Gothmog]

20. No that claim is not true

[betsuni]

21. It happens a lot.

[Cha]

23. Wow.. why would he

even say that?

[betsuni]

24. No idea. He's said it numerous times.

"But I responded and I said the major national security crisis we face is climate change. And the moderator actually laughed." The moderator was Anderson Cooper and anybody can see the tape and he didn't laugh.

I guess if you have it in your head that everyone's against you, you imagine they are.

[Cha]

25. What kind of strategy is That!? I can't imagine Anderson Cooper

is too pleased with BS saying that about him.

[betsuni]

26. If Biden said such a thing we'd never hear the end of it.

Yet Bernie's the one saying the corporate media are trying to undercut his campaign because ... he'd "take on" the corporations and billionaires or something. Laughable.

[Cha]

28. Pathetic.

[Cha]

22. Yeah, Ouch!

Glad I saw this.. Thanks, Goth!

[Thekaspervote]

27. Great post! Thx

[Cha]

32. K

[Billsmile]

33. New Common Dreams Article on this Topic Points to WaPo Bias

"Fairness & Accuracy In Media (FAIR) has been following this issue for quite some time, so we're happy to offer the evidence CNN and the Post claim is lacking..."



https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/08/15/if-youre-looking-evidence-wapo-media-bias-against-bernie-sanders-here-it?fbclid=IwAR1CISYRCcDIOZ3T8pcUEf_-cgkINzpphokOQT5_V35J5G48i2GL9ImIF6c

[Gothmog]

34. From Nate Silver-sanders complaints about media coverage do not hold up

Senator Warren has just as liberal or even more liberal platform compared to sanders and she is not being hurt in the polls or getting bad press coverage

Link to tweet

[mcar]

35. Not a good strategy, IMO

[Cha]

36. KICK!

[Cha]

37. KICK!